Definition and Effect of Having A Soul

I would like to asks everyone what is their definition of a soul?Some believe we have one and some don't.Whichever, I would ask:To what does the English word Soul refer to in your mind.No dictionary definitions please.When answering the question, please could you add the effect or use of having a soul as I 'believe' (shudder) that the way we see the soul working has some impact on the way we see its' existance.Coffee House maybe?

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For me, the word soul refers to that part of me which is immortal, which will continue after I die, which may well have existed for some time even before I was born. The use (if you can even call it a use) is that it is immortal, does continue after death. Personally, I believe that everyone has one but that none of us are aware of our soul, can test our soul, make any use of it. It is not a tool, not a sense, not physical, not testable except in one instance. If we die and we do find we continue to exist, then the soul existed.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I prefer the spelling "sole", and I have one on each shoe I take "soul" as referring to personality. This is consistent with its usage in the book title "The Soul of a New Machine". Thus I see the term as meaningful, irrespective of whether there is an afterlife.

Before I was a Christian the word "soul" wasn't really in my vocabulary, except maybe poetically as in "soul music" or "soul food," implying something emotional, as in "soulful." Oh, also as in "Old King Cole was a Merry Old Soul..." in that case just an old-fashioned word for "person."Now I equate it with my I-ness, my consciousness, my whole feeling-thinking-willing self apart from my body, which I was always aware of but for some reason didn't identify by the term "soul," the invisible part of me which is the real me. Something like that. I think I used the word "self" for this before I was a Christian, or "consciousness."And now I believe that the soul is immortal, and that it separates from the body at death, but will be reunited with the body, or really a new body, in the resurrection.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I share what Faith says but would add that our soul is that with which God directly communicates. It is a specific part of what might be described as our 'complete person' which can most directly commune with God. My intellect can enjoy theology which is of God. My senses can enjoy nature which is of God. But I am not my intellect nor my body. My soul is the bit which communicates person to person with God and not through these other, (currently) lesser media.And unsaved soul is a still-born entity that God applies the heart bump-starter to in an attempt to revive it. It cannot commune with GodBUMP!...blip, blip.. nothingBUMP!...blip, blip...nothingBUMP!....Edited by iano, : No reason given.Edited by iano, : No reason given.Edited by iano, : No reason given.

Larni I would equate it with a sense of harmony in reference to the connection between a person's consciousness and the world around them. That said I also think this to be an illusion resulting from the structure of the brain and nervous system. This does not make it any less special in terms of human activity just less mystical.It is kind of like the work of extremely talented magicians. You are thoroughly mystified by their apparent defying of natural laws but are also aware of the fact that the process is illusion produced by playing with human perception limitations.We humans tend to give greater weight to the things that happen in our own skulls as though we are incapable of decieving ourselves in order to support the illusion we find give us hope ,purpose or meaning in the universe.Just my my two cents worth.

A sense of harmony? What harmony? I haven't noticed much harmony.

Watch me disagree with jar. I do tend to think of the soul as a "tool". We "use" it to appreciate art - or a flotilla of baby ducks. We "use" it to empathize with our fellow creatures.A "well-used" soul is scratched and dented, like a toy that has been enjoyed - or a battle-scarred jeep.I had a boss once who would force single mothers onto late shifts, threaten people into doing her favours, enjoy perks which she gleefully denied to everybody else - all the while smiling angelically and saying, "I don't know how anybody could hurt another person."I always had the impression that her soul was still in the original wrapper.Edited by Ringo, : Retensification.

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We may well disagree on this one since I would call that which you so aptly describe as a conscience, but yes, I do believe that a conscience should be used, worn, scarred and dented, should show signs of having been repaired numerous times and often, like a favorite pair of jeans, somewhat ragged at the edges.As you said, to many of IT whether called conscience or soul, are left in the wrapper like barbie dolls still in their box and kept in a dark closet to protect their gauze dresses from the light of life.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I don't see much difference between soul/conscience/consciousness.
At least, I don't see dividing lines.

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I can understand that.What I was trying to do was simply show where I would draw those lines, what my internal definitions would be. I would call what you described the conscience, while I would define the soul as that part of us that is eternal. Whether the conscience is eternal is a question I'm not sure about, and if so, then the two might well be synonymous.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Your soul is simply your entire being.

That is a good question (and one that might be topic-worthy). Will we need a conscience in heaven? Is it something we might want to keep forever, like a comfortable pair of jeans? Could it be a way of preserving fond (and not-so-fond) memories, and sharing them with others?(You can see why I have trouble drawing lines around it. )

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to me the soul is a folk superstition, that defines the contents of your mind, intelelect, emotions,knowlege - mostly inlight of religious belief as a seperate entity from the pysical, and without it you really arn't humanEdited by ReverendDG, : No reason given.Edited by ReverendDG, : No reason given.

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FAITH, n.
Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. - the devil's dictonary